The Darkness
by OldOneX
Summary: The first of many stories in a Vampire Diaries fan spin-off set in the same world. In a little unknown town in West Virginia called Gallows Hill. Supernatural drama isn't just exclusive to Mystic Falls. It's everywhere! The story centers around protagonists Jack Mayfair and his girlfriend Angelica Mason as they discover that their peaceful little town isn't what it seems.


**Gallows Hill **

**I**

**The Darkness**

Chapter One

Beginnings

My name is Jack Mayfair and I come from a long line of Founders of a quiet and pretty little picturesque hidden away town in West Virginia called Gallows Hill. A town with a long history steeped in dark folklore, it is called Gallows Hill for a reason. They tell me that people used to be executed in a variety of horrific ways on the suspicion of witchcraft. Mainly they were hung on the giant white oak tree that is situated on The Gallows Hill from which the town is named. The scar from the rope, worn away from centuries of use is still very visible in the old broken bark. So it is safe to say that the town has a very dark past...but haven't we all?

My family; The Mayfairs have been in Gallows Hill since the beginning, since the mass migrations from England centuries ago along with the other four Founding Families; The Masons, The Morgans, The Farrars and The Pierces. Our families settled in a pretty little glade inhabited by natives, they eventually displaced the natives and named the settlement New Lancaster, after the town Lancaster in England from which our families originate. Centuries after when the massacres began the town began to be called Gallows Hill. Our families were responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent people. I mean I thought there was no such thing as witches, I thought that they were just poor people or pariahs that were the victims of the effects of mass hysteria caused by puritanical fools. On the surface Gallows Hill sure looks like a beautiful place, covered with, period architecture, pretty green hills and lush forests but as my late Mother always told me - You should never judge a book by it's cover.

A month ago I ran away, from Gallows Hill, my girlfriend, my business and my life in general. I could not bare the loss of my family. On the vacation of a lifetime to Indonesia, tragedy struck and my mother, father and little sister all died in a horrific earthquake, I was the sole survivor, to this day I don't know how I survived. My mother and father were all recovered from the rubble but my little sister's body was never found. Janie was my life, I was her big brother, her protector and the loss of that bond crippled me the hardest because I had failed her as her protector and as her brother. It was hard for me to attend that funeral, to lay flowers on my sister's empty grave. Whilst the whole town was in mourning, I was trapped inside a personal hell and my brain full of noisy incessant chatter, it was like I had stopped completely and the world around me was hazy, fast and a claustrophobics nightmare. I felt empty and done. I was already broken, my heart couldn't break anymore, it was beyond broken. I felt numb and disassociated from reality.

I ran away that very night, I hopped on my motorcycle and disappeared into the vast winding roads and left my only remaining relative my grandmother Jeannie holding together the remnants of my life, the house I inherited and my business. I couldn't think of anything other than my own emotions or the lack of them, my heart was riddled with apathy so I ran away to re-find myself, to do some soul searching you could say. I stayed away for an entire month but I found my way back to the town that nearly broke me, I was then ready to return to pick up the remnants of what was left of my broken life...I needed my girlfriend's embrace...I needed my Angel.

X

It was a cold autumn night on the outskirts of the town of Gallows Hill, on an empty road, the north road that led out of town. The road was bordered by thick and dense forest and there were some isolated farms here and there. It was the dead of night. The night was still, the moon hung high in the sky, it's white glow illuminated the clouds with a silvery hue, that made the scene all so eerie. There was not even a slight breeze. The silence was deafening, then suddenly and abruptly the silence was broken by a girl as she breached the woods and staggered onto the road.

The girl was messy, dirty and covered in mud from head to toe, no older than sixteen, her long brown hair was matted and messy, the clothing she wore was tattered and worn, she wore no shoes and her feet were covered in mud and bloody wounds. She wore a frantic and panicked expression upon her dirty face. The asphalt felt cold under her feet and stung her wounds as she stepped forward.

Her eyes illuminated with hope as she spotted her first sign of salvation, she ignored her pain and rushed across the road and looked thankful that she had happened upon a phone booth, she shakily grabbed the phone and was visibly shaken and in a state of shock made obvious as she vigilantly and vigorously scanned her surroundings. She struggled to keep her hand steady as she dialed the numbers.

"911, What is your emergency?" The operator asked.

The girl struggled to catch her breath as she hyperventilated from shock. The cold air burned her over worked lungs.

"Hello! What is your emergency!?" The operator asked with more forceful emphasis.

The girl finally managed to get her words out.

"Please! I..I...I need help!" The girl stuttered.

"What seems to be the problem Ma'am?" The operator responded.

The girl gasped for air, the pain in her chest was immense, she ached all over.

"A man, he bit me! I'm bleeding, he is chasing me...he chased me. I ran for at least a mile. He..." She couldn't finish her sentence as she was overwhelmed with emotions.

The girl began to cry and tears ran down her face at the mere thought of putting those horrific images into words, saying the words were enough to make her relive the horrors over and over again.

"...he just k...k...killed my entire family!" The girl sobbed as she wiped the tears that stung her face away with her dirt laden sleeve.

The girl relived the horrors in her head of what she had just witnessed, a incessant rush of images and sounds ruminated within her mind, the blood, the severed limbs, all the guts the maniac spread throughout her home, the faces of her family as he ripped them apart one by one, the thoughts, emotions and images rushed and flashed throughout her head like an unstoppable torrent of torment.

"Please try to remain calm Ma'am. Where are you, what is your location?" The operator asked.

"I...I...I don't know, somewhere on the outskirts of Gallows Hill!" She managed to respond.

"We can trace the call...one moment please." The operator said.

"Please hurry!" The girl screeched.

The girl heard slow moving footsteps behind her, one step after another and her heart skipped a beat and sank with every footstep. The footsteps ceased and her heart began to pound with such a ferocity that it burned her chest, she gasped as the footsteps began again and she heard whoever it was get closer and closer to her. She was stunned to the spot in fear and dared not look behind her, she grasped the phone and pressed it into the side of her face.

"There you are sweetness!" The man said in a thick Texan accent.

The girl whipped around and screamed so loud it made a flock of birds erupt from the top of the trees, the man who had murdered her entire family and chased her through the forest stood right in front of her. He was tall, no older than around twenty, he had black shaggy unkempt shoulder length hair topped with a beige cowboy hat, he was wearing a long black leather trenchcoat and all black attire except for his brown cowboy boots.

"You made me chase you through that damn forest, I got mud all over my pretty new boots but I do like it when they run!" The man exclaimed.

The man rushed forward in superspeed and abruptly grabbed the girl by the throat and pushed her up the side of the phone booth like she weighed nothing. The girl dropped the phone and was wide eyed in fear, the phone hit the floor as the poor girl wet herself from sheer fear. A torrent of wet and warm liquid rushed down her legs. She began to squeal and scream. She struggled to free herself under his solid grip to no avail. He squeezed even harder into her windpipe as tears streamed down her face, she couldn't breathe which made her panic even more and struggle even harder, the look of fear and dread was written all over her dirty little face.

The man screwed up his face in utter disgust as the urine splashed all over his feet and legs.

"Eugh! You filthy little bitch, you pissed all over my new boots!" The man retorted in disgust.

He slapped her face so hard with his other hand that a big red handprint shined brightly in red upon her face.

"Please help!" The girl managed to scream in sheer desperation.

"Hello...hello...Miss?" The girl heard the operator talk from the phone that lay on the floor in the puddle of her urine.

The man got right in close to her face and caught her gaze, he looked at her directly in her eyes and his pupils shrank.

"Stop screaming!" The man ordered.

"I will not scream, please don't kill me" The girl said in a calm, almost apathetic and empty tone of voice.

"I promise, it will only hurt for a moment" The man responded.

The man face became warped and filled with hate and darkness as large black veins erupted beneath his eyes and huge fangs erupted from his gums and he bit into his own wrist, he pulled the wrist out of his mouth letting out a satisfied gasp letting the blood drip from the wound. His demonic visage on show as his bloody fangs and face were covered in his own blood. He forced his bloody wrist into the girl's mouth and she recoiled in disgust and repulsion. He pulled his wrist away, the girl's face and mouth was now also covered in the man's blood.

"Ah! That should be enough." The man said satisfyingly.

"Enough for what? What are you doing!?" The girl asked vehemently.

The loud echo of police sirens echoed throughout the valley and the girl looked to her right and saw the feint flashing of the blue lights. Two police cars hurtled down the road and stopped right in front of them. The Sheriff and his Deputy stepped out their cars and pointed their guns at the man.

"Let her go or I will shoot you dead, I swear to God I will end you! Let her go now!" The Sheriff demanded.

The sheriff was an attractive rugged middle aged man, with red hair and bright blue eyes around forty years old in contrast to the much younger deputy who was handsome, around thirty and he had styled blonde hair and cloudy blue eyes.

The man looked at the girl directly in her eyes and she looked back into his.

"I am setting things in motion." The man replied.

The Man released her from his tight grip, she coughed and rubbed her throat where he had held her and she tried to catch her breath. The man feigned defeat and puts both hands in the air as he looked at them and grinned.

"Now step away from the girl, slowly!" The Sheriff ordered.

"Slowly!? I don't know the meaning of the word." The man laughed manically.

The man swiftly grabbed the girls head and twisted until her neck snapped, she fell down to the floor dead and just lay there in a mangled heap in the puddle of her own urine and the man's blood at the base of the phone booth. The Sheriff and the Deputy fired multiple shots at him which echoed throughout the valley but it was to no avail as he dodged the bullets and fled in superspeed and whooshed himself away so fast that the Sheriff and his Deputy couldn't have perceived his movement. The Sheriff walked upto the girl's body and just looked down at the twisted vision of horror that lay before him, his bright blue eyes glazed over with emotions as the young girl's body twitched as the life fully left her body. Her eyes still lay wide open in fear, they stared right at the Sheriff right into the depths of his soul making him feel revolted and nauseous.

"Nick!" The sheriff shouted.

The sheriff gulped and took a few seconds to compose himself.

"She is dead, radio through for an ambulance!" The sheriff ordered.

Deputy Nick just stood there silent with his hand firmly over his mouth as he gawped at the horrific sight that lay before him, he couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. He was awed and shocked.

"Nick!" The sheriff shouted.

Nick snapped out of it and walked over to his car to radio through. The sheriff kneels down in front of the girl and places his head in his hands despairingly.

"Oh God! I can't believe it is happening again. The sheriff said to himself.

Nick returned from his car and slowly and tentatively walked over to the Sheriff.

"I...eh.." Deputy Nick struggled for words.

"Spit it out will you, this isn't the first dead body you have seen!" The sheriff coldly remarked.

"Yes but never in my life have I seen anything quite like this, the ambulance is on it's way." Nick said.

"You should have been here in the 90's!" The sheriff retorted.

Nick just stood there, stared and remained silent.

"Nick! Quit gawping and get the mayor on the phone will you? Tell her it's urgent." The sheriff requested.

"The mayor!? W...w...what should I tell her?" Nick stuttered.

"Tell her...just tell her they have returned" The sheriff replied.

X

It was the next morning around 9am, it was a clear day, there was no clouds and the sky was a perfect unbroken sheet of dazzling blue. The sun illuminated the dense and beautiful Gallows Forest, the forest that surrounded the town of Gallows Hill which was a town situated inside a glade. A black motorbike roared and rumbled down the bright, lush, vibrant and picturesque valley on the north road towards the town. It's harsh sound interupted the calm and serene silence and non-activity.

"As soon as I entered the valley and saw those familiar hills, it hit me like a hard kick to the stomach. It all came rushing back all at once like a dark torrent of images and sounds, flashbacks. The blunt and harsh reality of that damned day the earthquake hit Indonesia, the day I lost my mother, my father and Janie; my beloved little sister. It weighed heavy on my heart. Momentarily I had a stab of regret and a part of me wanted to turn back and run away again rather than confront the truth and have to face the tattered vestiges of my broken life but I had been wandering for too long. I needed to return to Gallows Hill to pick up the pieces and to start to feel anything besides this empty feeling and the miasma of dark emotions that hung over me. I needed my girl. I needed my Angel." Jack narrated.

The dull and worn black motorcycle came to a stop outside a coffee shop on a hill; "The Gallows Hill". The coffee shop; Jack's business was called "Sacred Grounds", ironically named because it is situated on sacred consecrated ground that used to be a part of the "Gallows Hill Cemetary" that is situated directly across the street from Sacred Grounds. A leather clad Jack cut the engine and stepped down from his motorcycle. He took off his helmet revealing a cute face no older than twenty, he had a full head of luscious shoulder length dark brown wavy hair. He shook his head and stretched his arms into the air and took in a big deep breath of fresh Virginian air.

"Ah! It's good to be back." Jack remarked to himself.

The familiar door chime from the coffee shop filled Jack's ears and his heart sank as he feared the worst as a mature but still attractive older woman about the age of sixty with long dark brown straight hair rushed over to him, she was smartly dressed in a red blouse and black trousers and presented herself immaculately albeit she was wearing an apron emblazoned with the Sacred Grounds logo.

"Ah, Jack! Where have you been!?" The woman asked firmly.

The woman grabbed Jack by the arms and leant forward and kissed his forehead and embraced him affectionately. Jack was just shocked that he didn't receive a slap around the face. He knew he deserved one.

"I have missed you so much, you haven't been answering my calls, I was so very worried." The woman despaired.

"I love you too Grandma." Jack said with a cheeky grin painted upon his face.

Jack's Grandma; Jeannie looked at him in an accepting but disapproving manner, she had a stern but pleased expression upon her face.

"You had an old woman laying awake at night worrying sick about you. I hope you are proud of yourself!" Jeannie said with a screech.

Jack looked down at the ground in shame and kicked his feet.

"Well the main thing is that you are here now I suppose, no point in dwelling in the past right? You know Angel has been beside herself?" Jeannie asked.

Jack expression suddenly became worried and he felt guilty for putting Angel and his Grandma through the anguish of worry.

"Really? Am I going to get punished by her do you reckon? I bet she has moved on and I honestly couldn't blame her I would leave me too." Jack said.

"Don't be ridiculous that girl loves the bones of you, you are all she thinks about. She was quite upset, she had convinced herself that you had run off with another woman." Jeannie explained.

"Nonsense! That is not what happened! I love her and she knows that I would never do anything like that!" Jack strongly exclaimed.

Jack's face became screwed up and angry at the sheer thought that Angel would think that he would have done that. She was the only thing that kept him sane and from a complete a total mental breakdown.

"I did try telling her that dearie but it is hard to reason with a girl whose boyfriend up and left for a month with nothing to tell her why or where, just a note left for her telling her not to worry. Jack, please, you should have known that she would have worried and that I would have worried. You can't really be angry at her for thinking that can you?" Jeannie asked.

Jack lowered his head in utter shame.

"I guess not, I am sorry." He apologized.

Jeannie gently grasped his chin with her hand and pulled his face upwards to face her.

"It's not really me you should be apologizing to, that poor girl has been crying almost non-stop all month long." Jeannie explained.

"I need to apologize to you both. I just needed space, you know? To figure my stuff out and to remove my own head from firmly up my own ass. Once I got my mind focused I came back home, I cried all month long too you know?...Everyday." Jack replied with tears in his eyes.

Jeannie placed her hand affectionately on his shoulder and then put her arms around him and pulled him close into her warm loving familial embrace.

"I know dearie, just make up with her, she is the one precious thing you have left in this very cruel world." She said.

"I have two precious things left in this world, I have you too." Jack said very sweetly as he shone her another cheeky grin.

Jeannie held her heart with her hand, she was visibly touched by the affirmation.

"You know how to charm an old woman, don't you? Go on, get in there and sort out your relationship!" She cheerily said as she smiled and ushered him inside the coffee shop.

The door chimed again and Jack clapped eyes on his beautiful red-headed lover Angel standing behind the counter and his heart was filled with sadness and dread. He tentatively walked up to the counter. Jeannie walked across the room with white walls that contrasted against the dark oak floors and furniture that Sacred Grounds was outfitted with. She walked towards Angel who was busy preparing a coffee from the engine-like contraption that was placed on the counter top.

"You have a customer my dear" Jeannie said.

"I have several!" Angel responded completely busy and rushed off her feet.

Angel looked up from behind the counter and saw that Jack was standing there, her eyes face instantly became illuminated with joy and she completely abandoned what she was doing.

"Jack!" She squealed in joy.

Angel jumped over the counter top and her luxurious red curly hair bounced up and down and shone in the sun as she ran into his embrace and kissed him over and over and squeezed him tightly. She looked up into his face.

"I take it you are happy to see me?" Jack asked.

"Well, duh! Where have you been!? I missed you!" Angel exclaimed.

Angel slapped his face so hard and unexpectedly that it made him jump and the whole room gasped and turned to watch the spectacle.

Jack held his face and looked at Angel open mouthed in shock.

"Well I guess I deserved that!" Jack exclaimed.

"You have to guess!?" Angel rhetorically asked.

Angel began to erratically pace.

"You had me and Jeannie worried sick!... I haven't been sleeping!...I have been going out of my damn mind with worry and you have to guess if you deserved that slap or not!? Pfft!" Angel exclaimed.

Jack remained silent.

"Cat got your tongue?" Angel asked.

"What could I possibly say that would make anything better, you know I did wrong, I know I did wrong, apologizing wouldn't mean anything." Jack responded.

"It would be a good start" Angel said.

"Then for what it's worth I am so very sorry, I didn't do it to hurt you. I did it because I needed to." Jack explained.

"I was having thoughts of you in the arms of another woman or dead in a ditch somewhere!" Angel revealed despairingly.

Angel dropped to the floor on her knees, placed her head in her hands and began to wail and sob loudly. Jeannie looked over at the poor girl in an empathetic and sympathetic manner.

"You have tortured me! You have made me suffer, you have made Jeannie suffer!" Angel bellowed in anguish.

"I know. I'm sorry. I had to, you wouldn't understand, your parents and sibling are still alive, I was emotionally imploding. I was no good for myself never mind you. You deserved better than me in my numb and emotionally apathetic state. Don't you get why I had to leave?" Jack desperately asked.

"I know why you did it but it didn't make it... no sorry it doesn't make it any easier." Angel said.

Jack offered Angel his hand and she grabbed it and got to her feet. Angel tried to pull her hand away but Jack held firm and didn't let go. She looked into his eyes, another stab of guilt penetrated Jack's heart when he saw the tears that streamed down his girlfriend's face, the black marks from her eyeliner and mascara stained her face. The love that he had for her had teamed up with his conscience and relentlessly attacked him. He caressed her hand and looked intently into her eyes.

"I really did miss you Angel, not a day, not a moment went by that I didn't have this Angel shaped hole in my heart." Jack confessed.

Angel sniffed up and wiped away the tears with the back of her hand.

"Really!?" Angel asked.

"Of course I did, I love you Angel. I always have done and always will. That will never change." Jack declared.

Angel pulled him close and embraced him and she pushed her face deep into Jack's chest, she stroked her hand up and down his firm pectorals, she looked up into his eyes.

"I love you too" Angel whispered in a fragile feminine voice.

Jack smiled and winked at his grandmother, Jeannie rolled her eyes in response before she walked over from behind the counter to them both, she placed her hand on Angel's shoulder.

"Angel dearie, I'll cover for you. You two need to catch up out of the public view. You know what people around here are like, the whole town will know of your outburst by lunch." Jeannie offered.

"Are you sure?" Angel asked.

Angel turned and looked thankfully at Jeannie. Jeannie nodded.

"Of course, your name might be Mason but hopefully one day it will be Mayfair. You are my family Angelica and I love you as such." Jeannie confessed.

"Oh, don't! You're going to set me off again" Angel said with tears in her eyes.

"Awkward much!" Jack exclaimed.

"I love you too Jeannie and thank you so much, you're a saint!" Angel expressed.

"I do try." Jeannie said as her face became illuminated with a warm and loving smile.

Angel turned excitedly to Jack, her read hair jumped up and down as she bounced in glee.

"I'll be five minutes okay? Don't you go anywhere!" Angel warned.

"Like I would?" Jack responded.

Angel rushed hastily behind the counter and into the back room where she would most likely have changed her clothes and gathered her things from her locker. Jack looked around the coffee shop and clapped eyes on the waitress;his friend Jessica Lyons who Jeannie greatly despised because she feared that she would become the wedge the drives Jack and Angel apart, she saw her as a threat to the Mayfair legacy. Jeannie looked sternly at her grandson. Jessica stopped wiping down the tables and approached Jack.

"It's good to see you Jack, where've you been?" Jessica asked as she flirtaciously fluttered her eyelashes.

Jeannie rolled her eyes and looked on in disgust.

"Around, you know how it is. It is good to see you too Jess. How've you been?" Jack asked.

"Not so good, living with Mom and Dad is like living in a warzone but I'm all the better for seeing you." Jessica revealed.

"Sorry to hear things are still bad for you Jess" Jack said as he smiled and placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

Jessica looked at Jack's hand on her shoulder, then looked over at Jeannie who leered right at her with a stern look upon her face and Jessica looked down at the ground as Jeannie approached. Jeannie stopped right beside them and pointed towards the back of the coffee shop.

"You missed a table!" Jeannie screeched.

Jessica rolled her eyes at Jeannie.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me missy! Get back to work!" Jeannie ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am." Jessica responded.

Jessica returned to clearing and wiping down the tables.

"You don't have to be so mean to her you know? She has a bad enough time as it is." Jack commented.

"That is no concern of yours, your priority should always be Angelica. I don't like the way that girl looks at you." Jeannie replied.

"I am her only friend" Jack responded.

"Well I find that easy to believe." Jeannie commented

"Angel is my first priority, you know that." Jack said.

"Speaking of which, you got out of that predicament easy enough, didn't you?" Jeannie asked.

"I wouldn't call that easy but I do try." Jack cheekily responded.

Jeannie tutted as Jack chuckled.

"You always were a smooth talker, you got that from your Grandfather!" Jeannie exclaimed.

"I guess" Jack responded.

"You have some making up to do, don't let your old Grandmother down. That girl is important to me and your future together is also very important to me. I'll be damned if I let some little devious waitress spoil that!" Jeannie exclaimed as she looked over at Jessica.

"You have nothing to worry about. Angel is everything to me. I am not going to lose her and for the record Jessica is a friend...a...friend! Jack emphatically exclaimed.

"Glad to hear it." Jeannie responded.

Angel returned from the back room, she was in her normal everyday clothes now. She walked over to Jack and Jeannie with a smile on her face. She looked intently at Jack.

"Let's get going. We have some...ehm...making up to do!" Angel excitingly exclaimed

Angel bit her lower lip and gazed at Jack in an intense flirtacious sexual manner.

"Oh, okay." Jack responded.

"Don't mind him dearie, the male Mayfairs always were slow to catch on." Jeannie explained

Angel started to giggle.

"Oh...OH!" Jack exclaimed when he finally realised what she meant.

Jack grabbed Angel by the hand, then giddily and excitingly rushed to the door to leave.

"Bye Gran!" Jack said with a cheeky grin as they both waved goodbye to Jeannie.

"Bye dearies...try not to break the bed!" Jeannie shouted as the left the shop with a smile on her face.

Jack and Angel giggled and the door chimed as they left and Jeannie shot Jessica a glorified smirk. Jack and Angel could still be heard as they laughed outside the shop and Jessica gazed out of the window and gave them a dirty and disgusted look. Jack handed Angel his spare helmet and she put it on, he put his helmet on and he started the ignition, Angel climbed up onto the motorbike and embraced Jack around his middle and placed her head affectionately on his back. Jack revved the engine and they rode off into town towards the Mayfair Family Home.

XXX

_**Author's Note: Well that is chapter one complete, one of eleven chapters. It was an introduction to Gallows Hill and it's main protagonists Jack and Angel, I hope you enjoyed it. Chapter 2; Olivia coming soon. Chapter two will focus on the girl whose family was murdered by the vampire, her waking up in transition, dazed and confused, her body willing her to feed and her eventually completing her transition. I hope you continue to enjoy "The Darkness" I promise it gets more action packed filled with suspense and twists as the vampires make their move against the founder's council. Feedback is welcome.**_


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